Overflow?

[Marinegrunt]

I'm in the process of building our first pond. I have a small upper pond, waterfall and stream, and then a 8x13 bigger pond. I'm installing a bottom drain that will run to a series of 55 gallon drums for filtering. The pump will be in a drum to send water back to the small upper pond. I realize the drums have to be level with the bigger pond. I want to install an overflow from the drums to the pond. The way the yard is, if I run it straight, it'll be close to the surface. Can I run it off the drum, then down, across, and back up to to exit at the surface of the pond? Will it flow okay? I could always bring up the level of the yard if need be.

Thanks for any help! I'm sure I'll have plenty of other questions.

 

[sissy]

remember you have to make sure drums never get clogged and over flow and drain the pond .My filters are sitting in the liner and if they ever overflow it runs right back into the pond

 

[Meyer Jordan]

Since this is primarily gravity-fed, I see no reason that the height of water in any of the drums would exceed the water level of the pond.

 

[sissy]

unless they get clogged .I saw a post on here about that happening to some one .

 

[Marinegrunt]

If anything gets clogged it will just starve the pump of water so don't see how it could drain the pond. Thanks for pointing it out though. I want to cover all bases to prevent anything from happening.

That makes since Meyer. I guess my main concern is either the drain won't drain enough water to supply the pump back to top pond or there will be too much water. I do plan on installing a ball valve on the drain pipe before the drum so I would be able to slow down flow if need be. I could also adjust the height of the drain pipe in order to speed up or slow down flow.

I do remember reading where the pump is what controls how much water flows from the drain. I just can't picture that. What if I had a 1" drain. There's no way it would keep up with a 4500 gph pump. Maybe it's different with bigger diameter pipe?

I'm sure I'll have to tweak some things so I might as well just go for it. I just hope my tweaking doesn't involve more digging because I only have my father in laws tractor for a few more days!

 

[Meyer Jordan]

Flow rate on a gravity fed system is controlled by the pump providing that the appropriate size (ID) piping is used. The larger the pipe, the greater the potential flow rate. Any flow restriction by way of a control valve should be placed on the outflow side of the pump.

 

[Marinegrunt]

Thanks Meyer.....controlling outflow from the pump does make sense. I'm using a 3" drain so the pump will probably put out more gph's than the drain.

Thanks again for your help!

 

[bobchapman]

I'm using a 3" pipe on my bottom drain and it is fully capable of furnishing enough water to keep a 4500 GPH pump supplied. The pumps are below water level in my case.
Bob Chapman

 

[Usman]

If anything gets clogged it will just starve the pump of water so don't see how it could drain the pond. Thanks for pointing it out though. I want to cover all bases to prevent anything from happening.

That makes since Meyer. I guess my main concern is either the drain won't drain enough water to supply the pump back to top pond or there will be too much water. I do plan on installing a ball valve on the drain pipe before the drum so I would be able to slow down flow if need be. I could also adjust the height of the drain pipe in order to speed up or slow down flow.

I do remember reading where the pump is what controls how much water flows from the drain. I just can't picture that. What if I had a 1" drain. There's no way it would keep up with a 4500 gph pump. Maybe it's different with bigger diameter pipe?

I'm sure I'll have to tweak some things so I might as well just go for it. I just hope my tweaking doesn't involve more digging because I only have my father in laws tractor for a few more days!

hi welcome , u should draw and plan , what you mean by too much water ? as i cud understand .... only concern will be lack of water in the drum that has pump , it will not go above pond level (if u do control flow after the pump then it will reduce waterflow and you cant get full advantage of pump and may lack filteration u need) u just need to make sure maximum water can enter by using very thick piples may be 4 inch diameter

u need to be very calculated and specific even which type of media and how to give input output pipes at each drum , please draw then will b clear , suppose if u added sponges , after some time they will reduce water flow then it can b issue pump can dry out and burn if water doesnot reach last drum .

other thing im thinking there will be many joints , so leaks can b problem and if ur pond is underground then these drums need to b under ground ?

 

[Usman]

its better if u have one drum down for gravity drain in which u can have a pump that sends water on top , near ur upper area where u can have next drum then it will not have much issue the water will b pumped with force and will overflow from it , it cant b blocked , will falls in small upper pond .

 

[Marinegrunt]

Our backyard backs up to a wooded ravine. The drums are going to be at th edge of the ravine so they can't be seen but will still be level with the pond. I don't really have the option for an upper drum.

What I might do is have the 4500 gph pump go from the bottom of the big pond up to the small pond. I can then get a smaller pump to just do the filtering. It sounds like slower water flow through the filter is better anyways. The small pump could go from the drums right back to big pond. Plus, I will then have full flow through the 4500 pump for a good waterfall and stream. Thoughts on that way vs just using the 4500 only in a drum?

 

[mgmine]

I cannot picture under any circumstance where a drain at the bottom of the pond could keep up with a pump. But it is working for Bob. With everything being level there will be very little head pressure. I'm just thinking about how a sump pump in the basement works. Please let us know how things work out.

 

[Marinegrunt]

Bob, I somehow didn't see your post above. That makes me feel better on my original plans. I think I'll go with that at first and see how it goes.

 

[mrsclem]

I'm curious to see how this goes as well. I have a series of 3 55gal barrels as a filter on one of my ponds. I have a 1950gal pump going from pond to 1st barrel and then gravity flow to the others. I had to cut back the flow as the 1st barrel overflowed. I'm using 1 1/2" piping to the barrel,2" between and 3" exit back to pond.

 

[Meyer Jordan]

I'm curious to see how this goes as well. I have a series of 3 55gal barrels as a filter on one of my ponds. I have a 1950gal pump going from pond to 1st barrel and then gravity flow to the others. I had to cut back the flow as the 1st barrel overflowed. I'm using 1 1/2" piping to the barrel,2" between and 3" exit back to pond.

The pump should ideally be located on the outflow of your third barrel.